# Liza — Notes from Underground character guide

> Liza in Notes from Underground by Fyodor Dostoevsky.

**Role:** major

**Also known as:** Liza, her, herself

**First appearance:** 0014-i

## Snapshot

A young woman working in a brothel whom the Underground Man lectures on salvation, then waits for with a mixture of longing, dread, and contempt.

## Who they are

She meets the narrator in a house of prostitution and becomes, in his imagination, a project: a "pure soul" he might rescue and thereby prove his own nobility. But his fantasy curdles into rage — he imagines crushing her, spitting at her, striking her — even as he obsessively replays the moment he struck a match and saw her tortured, distorted smile. Her possible arrival at his apartment becomes the axis of his dread, and her silence or presence will test whether his grand speeches were ever anything but vanity.

## Relationships

### [Apollon](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/notes_from_underground_se/characters/apollon)

_social_

Apollon and Liza are connected only through the Underground Man, with Apollon's presence adding to the oppressive atmosphere during Liza's visit.

### [Zverkov](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/notes_from_underground_se/characters/zverkov)

_social_

Liza and Zverkov have no direct relationship, but Zverkov represents the type of man the Underground Man fears Liza might prefer over him.

### [Ferfitchkin](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/notes_from_underground_se/characters/ferfitchkin)

_social_

Ferfitchkin and Liza have no direct interaction, but both are victims of the Underground Man's spite in different contexts.

### [Trudolyubov](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/notes_from_underground_se/characters/trudolyubov)

_social_

Liza and Trudolyubov have no direct relationship, existing only as peripheral figures in the Underground Man's narrative.

## In the story

### [Part II: À Propos of the Wet Snow](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/notes_from_underground_se/chapters/part-ii-propos-of-the-wet-snow)

A prostitute whom the Underground Man meets after the dinner; he delivers a moralizing speech to her and later cruelly rejects her.

### [V](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/notes_from_underground_se/chapters/v)

Introduced as a young, pale prostitute with grave, wondering eyes; the narrator is immediately drawn to her.

### [Chapter VI](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/notes_from_underground_se/chapters/vi)

A twenty-year-old prostitute from Riga, who listens silently and responds reluctantly, but shows signs of deeper thought.

### [VII](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/notes_from_underground_se/chapters/vii)

Breaks down in utter despair after the narrator's speech, then shows him a letter from a former lover.

### [VIII](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/notes_from_underground_se/chapters/viii)

Haunts the narrator's thoughts; he vividly recalls her pale, distorted face and unnatural smile from their last encounter.

### [Chapter IX](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/notes_from_underground_se/chapters/ix)

Understands the narrator's unhappiness, embraces him, and becomes the heroine in the reversed power dynamic.

### [The Final Confrontation with Liza and the Underground Man's Last Reflection](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/notes_from_underground_se/chapters/x)

Liza visits the narrator, is humiliated by him, receives money out of spite, and leaves after throwing the money back on the table.

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/notes_from_underground_se/characters/liza
- Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/notes_from_underground_se
- All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/notes_from_underground_se/characters